With the Thanksgiving holiday here, I thought this would be the perfect time to give my thanks to the sporting world. So, here are 13 things that I am thankful for over the past year.

1. The infield fly

The St. Louis Cardinals benefited on a delayed infield fly call during a one game playoff with the Atlanta Braves. The Cardinals beat the Braves to advance to the NLDS round against the Washington Nationals.

2. The Triple Crown

With only 17 players in the history of baseball winning the Triple Crown, and no one winning it since 1967, I am thankful that I got to see a Triple Crown winner in my lifetime.

3. Josh Reddick AKA Piederman

Josh Reddick was the master pie deliverer for the Oakland A’s and their major league leading 14 walk-off wins during the 2012 baseball season. Reddick pied his fellow teammates time and time again on national TV, doing so once while wearing a spiderman costume.

4. Bob Melvin

The manager of the Oakland A’s turned his team around and guided them to the 2012 American League West division title. The A’s were in first place only one day during the season, the final day.

5. Brad Keselowski

The driver of the No. 2 Miller Lite Dodge became a media sensation with his twitter account during the Daytona 500 back in February. Keselowski went on to make the NASCAR Chase for the cup and beat five-time champion Jimmy Johnson in the final race of the year to win his first Spring Cup championship.

6. Dale Earnhardt Jr.

The most popular driver in NASCAR finally won a race in 2012, ending a four year, 143 race drought.

7. Donald Fehr

I am thankful that Donald Fehr is no longer the head of the Major League Baseball Players Association. Fehr is leading the NHL to cancel its second season in less than 10 years. Baseball had enough of Fehr after he convinced the players to strike in 1994. Since he has been gone, the players and the owners in baseball have had labor peace.

8. NFL referees

After starting the season with replacement refs, fans and players alike complained about how the calls went and how bad they were. Yet, since the regular referees returned, the number of penalties is nearly similar to those issued by replacement refs.

9. Baseball

My favorite sport. The one thing that I look forward to every day between the middle of February through the end of October is watching baseball. Without baseball, I don’t know what I would do with my free time.

10. The Bernie Lean

A song from 2010 based on the 1989 movie became a major hit in Oakland this year. The A’s and their fans rode the song to a music video, a Weekend at Bernie’s Day in Oakland, and an appearance by Terry Kiser, the man who played Bernie in the movie.

Page 2 of 2 - 11. Blackburn College

I got the chance to earn my degree in communications while also writing about college sports. What’s better than that!

12. Brady Quinn and Matt Cassel

The ineptitude both have shown as the quarterback of the Kansas City Chiefs gives me great hope that Kansas City will draft someone in the next draft. Until the Chiefs get a real quarterback, the franchise is going to continue to go down hill

13. The coaches and athletes in the Hannibal/Mark Twain/Palmyra/Monroe City area.

For giving me the opportunity to do what I love and to have a great time doing it. Without you, I wouldn’t have anyone to write about or anyone to read what I do write.